The Jeweler From Uncut Gems Explains Why People Go Crazy For Gold And Diamonds

Joe Weisenthal (0:10)

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Odd Lots Podcast. I'm Joe Weisenthal.

Tracy Alloway (0:16)

And I'm Tracy Alloway.

Joe Weisenthal (0:18)

Tracy, I have an apology I think I have to make, too.

Tracy Alloway (0:23)

Ooh, oh, this is exciting. Okay, go on.

Joe Weisenthal (0:26)

Well, you know how I sometimes accuse you of being secretly a gold bug and stuff like that, and sometimes I troll you nicely about your dad being a gold bug and stuff like that, and being super into hoarding physical gold and jewels and gems and stuff like that.

Tracy Alloway (0:46)

I'm not sure it's trolling if it's true in the case of my dad. He definitely is a gold bug.

But what exactly are you apologizing for?

Joe Weisenthal (0:56)

No, I've also accused you of secretly being that, even if you won't admit it.

Tracy Alloway (1:02)

I'm really not. Look, I'm not a gold bug, but I'm not gonna turn down when people give me gold as a present.

Joe Weisenthal (1:10)

Okay, okay, that's fair enough. But you're sort of, I don't know. Okay, I'll move on. But I've always sort of suspected you have those leanings. Anyway, the reason I have to apologize is because I'm coming around to that view myself and I myself am kind of becoming a closet or maybe out of the closet gold bug myself.

Tracy Alloway (1:31)

Isn't this like the third time you've changed your opinion on gold?

Joe Weisenthal (1:36)

I always go back and forth, but this time it's actually specifically because of the guest that we were, that we are going to talk to on today's episode. I recently started watching his videos on Instagram and he is such a compelling salesman for gold and jewelry and gems that I'm kind of changing my mind on the whole thing and I want to start getting into hoarding gold.

Tracy Alloway (2:04)

Well, look, the field of people selling gold is kind of a crowded one, so I'm really curious what the sales pitch is exactly here. It must be a good one if it's changed your mind again.

Joe Weisenthal (2:18)

Well, you know, for the last 10 years since you and I have been covering finance, most of the people advocating gold are like these sort of angry, old-fashioned types, like Peter Schiff, and they like spend all their time railing against the Fed. And honestly, like, it's kind of tiresome. But my eyes have opened up to a different case for it that I find to be far more compelling.

Tracy Alloway (2:42)

What's the case?

Joe Weisenthal (2:44)

Well, before we get to that exactly, let's just backtrack a little bit. I know you're in Hong Kong, but did you see the movie Uncut Gems?

Tracy Alloway (2:53)

I did, it was really, really good. Like pretty stressful at times, given it's about this New York jeweler whose life is basically spinning out of control due to a gambling addiction. But it's really good.

Joe Weisenthal (3:07)

It's really good. It's really stressful. I would say it's probably my favorite movie that I saw in the last year or two. I loved it. I want to see it again.

But anyway, on today's episode, we are actually going to be speaking with a person who played a role. He was an actor in the movie and he is a real life jeweler.

Tracy Alloway (3:28)

So I know who you're talking about. It was the behind the counter sort of jeweler or assistant in the main character's shop, jewelry shop.

Joe Weisenthal (3:38)

Right. Exactly. So for those who don't know, who haven't seen it, you should see the movie. But Adam Sandler's character plays a jeweler in New York's Diamond District.

And one of his employees, the character Yussie, is actually a real life jeweler who's been in the game for a long time and he's here now. And we're going to talk to him about what the business is really like, what the movie got right and wrong, and why people love jewelry and gold so much.

Tracy Alloway (4:07)

That sounds great.

Joe Weisenthal (4:08)

All right, let's do it. So without further ado, I want to bring in Maksud Agadjani, he's the CEO and founder of TraxNYC.

He played the character Yussie in the movie. He's a jeweler. He sells jewelry to rappers and others, much like the Sandler character in the movie. Maksud, thank you very much for joining us.

Maksud Agadjani (4:30)

Thank you for having me very much. Thank you.

Joe Weisenthal (4:32)

How did you get into, how did this happen that you got a character in this movie and that you're an actual jeweler who is in Uncut Gems?